Thunder From The 70’s is a seven volume DVD set found on MuscleCarFilms.com. It covers exciting footage of stock car racing from 1970 through 1978. This short recap shows some of the coolest clips from the series.
These clips are sampled from a series that totals about a thousand, or so, minutes of footage of racing from the 1970s. The series covers these seasons of racing, as well as specific racing events that went down during the time period. It’s hard to condense all the footage into just over 4-minutes, but it’s still an awesome peak at a wild time in racing.
It gets a little dicey at times with close calls, driver errors, pit crew mistakes, and tempers getting the best of some. Then there’s the accidents, the sliding, crunchy, smokey, high speed collisions. Some between multiple cars, some single cars, but all intense!
This peak at the early days of the sport shows a whole different kind of racing than we’re used to seeing. It’s not nearly as clean, organized, or well pressed as the events are nowadays. The 1970s was an interesting time for NASCAR. During this time period, they allowed American auto manufacturers to use a range of models in the Winston Cup Series. As a result, the competition was cutthroat.
Racing during these times was far less regulated than it is now. It also had less to do with corporate sponsors. Overall, it was just raw and fun for the drivers, teams, and the spectators. If you talk to most any old schooler, they’ll tell you that this was the best time in racing — although NASCAR fans of today are still pretty fanatical.
Next time you watch a modern NASCAR race on TV (or from the stands), remember where it all came from — these times from the video are the roots of what you see today!
Elizabeth is hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
